APEX COURT REJECTS PERLIS GOVT’S REVIEW BID TO REINSTATE LOH’S CHILDREN AS MUSLIMS

PUTRAJAYA, April 8 (Bernama) -- The Federal Court today dismissed the Perlis state government’s review bid to reinstate the religious status of Loh Siew Hong’s three children as Muslims. 

Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, who chaired the Federal Court’s three-judge panel, delivered the unanimous decision alongside Federal Court judges Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera. 

“We find no merits in the application, and the applicant has not met the threshold required under Rule 137 of Federal Court 1995. There’s no miscarriage of justice. Therefore, the application is dismissed with no orders to cost,” ruled Justice Hasnah. 

Lawyer A. Srimurugan acted for Loh, while counsel Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla appeared for the Perlis government. 

The state government filed the review application with the Federal Court on Oct 30 last year, requesting the court to set aside its earlier decision in rejecting the leave to appeal applications filed by the state government and three other parties. 

The state government contended that the previous ruling had severely compromised their right to be heard. They are seeking a rehearing of the leave to appeal the application.

The application to seek leave to appeal was dismissed on May 14 last year, preventing the applicants including the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs), the State Registrar of Converts and State Mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin from proceeding with their appeals.

Loh had filed an affidavit opposing the review application.

On Jan 10 last year, the Court of Appeal nullified Loh children’s conversion to Islam and declared them as Hindus. The decision overturned the 2023 High Court’s ruling that had initially dismissed Loh’s judicial review to annul her children’s conversion.

The 37-year-old single mother filed the judicial review on March 25, 2022, seeking a declaration that her three children are Hindus and asserting that her ex-husband, M. Nagahswaran, who converted to Islam, lacked the legal capacity to register their children as converts without her consent.

The three children, who were initially placed under the care of the Social Welfare Department, were returned to Loh on Feb 21, 2022, after the High Court granted her habeas corpus application.

-- BERNAMA